Orientation, Day 1

What a long day! The morning began with a standing/socializing breakfast at 8am, and the official orientation events began at 9:30. The Dean gave the first speech, welcoming us to medical school, telling us that he hopes we love UCSF, and asking us to challenge ourselves outside the classroom (in our communities, globally, etc.). It was a very warm welcome.

Next we had a series of talks from the rest of the "Dean Team" -- they also welcomed us to school, told us about a lot of resources, and told us statistics about our class. (Want to hear some of them? Well, the average age is 24, and 70% of us have taken time to do other things since college. Seems like I'm floating somewhere in the middle!) The talk about international medicine and travel was exciting, as was the discussion of the electives available for us to take.

They spent a lot of time this morning talking about professionalism and what that means for physicians. It brought me back to my freshman year course in Medical Sociology at Yale when we watched all sorts of television shows and movies that showed the doctor-patient relationship and had to write a paper about what it means to be "professional."

Next we had a meeting about financial aid and budgeting through medical school. Turns out that if you buy a $3 latte on loan money today, you will actually be purchasing that latte for about $5. Weird. Moral of the story: education is expensive. So are espresso-based drinks.

How about some fine details? The vegetarian lunch option was an avocado-swiss-tomato-sprout sandwich with the condiments on the side (how thoughtful -- I didn't have to scrape off the mayo!), a side of an orzo salad, tomato-basil potato chips, a freshly baked cookie, and an Andes chocolate mint. Did you really want all those details?! The lunch was great and the weather was perfect. My whole class ate in the courtyard, and we even had some entertainment. A shirtless man sprinted across the courtyard, chased by a man in slacks and a button-down, and soon after a policeman wearing blue latex gloves came sprinting after. I'm not sure what that was all about, but it was bizarre and somewhat entertaining.

Next came the "Introduction to Academics." I have to be honest -- at that point in the day, with lunch settling in my stomach, it was hard to concentrate. I counted at least three people who were completely asleep during the entire presentation. After this talk, I got my photo-ID badge picture taken. Thankfully, I took a halfway decent picture. I have to wear the badge in plain view for the next four years and I was worried I'd have the typical terrible ID photo. They took the pictures against a blue background instead of a white background, which definitely is more flattering, but I still look incredibly pale.

Oh! I forgot to mention the white coats....

We received our white coats today. Shhhhhh...yes, there is a ceremony on Friday when we "officially" get them, but they had to make sure they fit us. It was sort of frustrating. I had been warned by a third-year student that the women's coats are made of a much flimsier and less professional-looking material than the men's coats, but I was still surprised by the difference. The men's coats are definitely nicer, but they don't fit me very well. I exchanged my flimsy women's coat for a men's coat, but the coat kind of looks like it's trying to swallow me. Maybe after a wash in hot water it will fit a little better.

The rest of the afternoon was spent sorting out registration information and paying fees. We had an hour and a half session from the information technology office telling us about all of the things that are available to us online. It was overwhelming -- SO much of our curriculum is online, and we have amazing resources to draw from.

Lastly, we headed to the Medical Alumni Association BBQ, where they fed us, gave us UCSF sweatshirts, and raffled off 12 bottles of champagne. Festive, fun, and very kind of the alumni.

All in all, a good and long day. Things are kicking into gear now. Tomorrow we have our introduction to gross anatomy -- good thing I'm reading Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers. It's a good read if you are interested in reading about cadavers....